Turkey has not yet implemented agreements on Idlib — Putin

The Russian president comment on the situation in Idlib

SOCHI, October 18./TASS/. Agreements on the demilitarized zone in Idlib have not been implemented by Turkey as of yet, but Russia is grateful to its Turkish partners for the work they are doing, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club on Thursday.

"No, they haven’t implemented [them] as of yet, but they are working on this," Putin said when asked whether Turkey had met its part of engagements. "We see that they are working. Things are not that easy, on the contrary, everything is difficult," the president said.

"But they are carrying out their obligations, and this demilitarized zone, which we agreed to set up, the 15 to 20-kilometer deep Idlib de-escalation zone, is being created," the president added.

Not all militants have been withdrawn, the Russian leader said. "The Turkish partners are doing everything to comply with their commitments," Putin said, adding that the Turkish partners had even deployed a military hospital to that region. He characterized Turkey as a "rather tough and rather efficient" party in fight against terrorism.